The Hunter Ranger is now available to play! A brand new class that twists together ranged and melee attacks to exploit his foes in combat. You can now select the Hunter Ranger class at character creation.

The recent Thayan Resurrection has caused much turmoil amongst the Red Wizards of Thay, some wanting to return Thay to the rule of the zulkirs, some still in service to Szass Tam. In a desperate bid to consolidate her power, Valindra Shadowmantle has decided to accelerate her plans at the Dread Ring to raise the ancient black dragon Lorragauth. Red Wizard insurgents revealed to Lord Neverember Valindra’s plans, and now a force of heroes from Neverwinter has been sent to try and stop Valindra. Take up the battle to thwart the lich’s evil plans by visiting Sgt. Knox in Protector's Enclave at level 60 and taking the “Conquering Our Dread” quest.

It is time to finish the fight with Valindra Shadowmantle! Confront the lich in her stronghold and end her reign of terror over the good people of the Sword Coast! This is the hardest dungeon in Neverwinter yet, requiring a Gear Score of 10500. Gear up, then queue up for Valindra's Tower in the dungeon queues list.

Have you ever seen a really cool companion but had no idea where to acquire it? Have you just reached level 60 and want to know what items are available? The new Collections screen can help you find what you need!

The Collections window can be accessed by pressing 'Ctrl-J' or by pressing the new button at the top of the screen. Collection categories are listed along the left side of the window. When a category is selected, you can browse everything that makes up these collections. The "Locations" checkbox will let you view all the items in the selected category sorted by location instead.

When collecting an item that belongs to a collection, the item's icon will brighten in the Collections screen and you'll be presented with an Achievement-like notification (or more if that item belongs to multiple categories!). Every collection item checked off will increase your Collection Score (or Companion Collection Score as appropriate). Many collections also have a completion bonus, and some collections even grant titles. The Scores are purely cosmetic for the time being.

Categories available on release:

Companions: A list of every companion that can be obtained in Neverwinter, aside from a select few "promo" companions.

Epic Equipment: A wide selection of armor and weapons for level 60 characters.

Artifacts: A complete list of available artifacts showing each major phase in their progression.

Sharandar: The Sharandar Rewards page has been converted into a collection category. It lists all of the rewards available in and around Sharandar.

Dread Ring: Like the Sharandar page, this category lists all of the major rewards for the new zone, the Dread Ring.

All companions now have an Active Bonus that they grant to you or your summoned companion when they are in an Active Companion Slot. These Active Companion slots are on the left side of the Companion Window. You start with 3 and gain one at level 30 and a fifth slot on reaching level 60.

Active Bonuses are varied in their effects. Many just grant a bonus to the character’s stats. Some give bonuses when certain conditions apply, such as extra damage when the target is knocked prone. Still other bonuses have a chance to trigger when the character uses an at-will, encounter or Daily power.

Look through your companions and decide which ones will be in your Active Slots based on the bonuses that they give. All active bonuses currently on you and your summoned companions are shown like a buff under your HUD portrait, with a turquoise hand icon. Mouse over that icon to see a list of all current active bonuses.

Along with the new Artifacts system, we’ve adding in an introductory quest to teach players about artifacts and acquire your choice of one of three artifacts. Talk to Sgt. Knox in Protector's Enclave at minimum level 21 and take the “Artifact Facts” quest. Others are available from epic dungeons and as a glory vendor reward.

Artifacts provide stats and a power that can be activated for your Primary Artifact. Up to 3 artifacts can be slotted at a time a single Primary and two Secondary artifacts available. Primary Artifact slots are always available to slot an item into where Secondary Artifact slots unlock at level 60. You may refine these artifacts similarly to how Enchantments now refine and improve their item quality, upgrading the artifact's provided stats and active powers!

The way you rank up these items has changed. The process is now called Refinement, and instead of gathering 4 of the same type and “Fusing” them together, they now gain Refinement Points (RP) by consuming any other Enchantment or Runestone. The amount of RP gained varies based on the Rank of Enchant/Runestone you are consuming, and these amounts are displayed in the new Refinement UI when you place a valid item into a Refining Slot. You get additional RP when using a matching item, which is an Enchant/Runestone of the same type (Radiant or Training, for example), regardless of the Rank. After an Enchant/Runestone gains the appropriate amount of RP, it will now be able to Upgrade to the next rank. The Refining Stones needed to upgrade it are displayed, as well as the chance of success to do so. You will also be able to find various Refining Stones that are designed to be consumed for a boost of RP.

There is a new tutorial quest to help familiarize players with these changes.

Unslotting an Enchantment or Runestone intact now costs an amount of Copper, Silver, and Gold (based on the Rank of the Enchant/Runestone and the Quality of the item) as opposed to Astral Diamonds. You can destroy a slotted Enchantment or Runestone for no cost. You can also now Refine/Upgrade a slotted Enchantment without removing it from its slot. This can be done by right-clicking on a slotted item and choosing “Refine Enchantment” or by choosing “Refine” from the drop down list while in the Enchanting window.

All of the Great Weapon Fighter's At-Will powers have been updated to improve AoE effectiveness and, in certain cases, group utility, AoE tanking viability, and more interesting feat interactions. These changes are detailed below.

Reaping Strike: Now reduces incoming damage by 8% while charging, damage reduction from hitting multiple targets has been reduced by 3.2%, resulting in 16% more overall damage against multiple targets. In addition, the crawl speed while charging has been increased by 50%.

Sure Strike: Reduced damage of final hit and increased damage of hits 1-3. Overall damage is about 2.5% higher. The damage reduction from hitting multiple targets on the final hit has been reduced by 5%, resulting in 10% more damage against multiple targets.

Weapon Master Strike: Damage reduction from hitting multiple targets has been reduced by 2%, resulting in 8% more overall damage against 5 targets.

Battle Fury: Now also affects your team at 25% of its normal effectiveness.

Weapon Master's Strike can no longer be prematurely cancelled to strike faster than intended.

Feats: These adjustments generally serve to better flesh out the various paths, as well as add some additional PvE tanking benefits.

Unstoppable Recovery: This feat is now part of the Sentinel tree.

Student of the Sword: This feat is now part of the Instigator tree.

Reaping Strike no longer silently fails when it is not charged long enough.

Executioner’s Style: This was a powerful effect in theory, but in practice it could be difficult to use effectively. This effect has been changed so that now Reaping Strikes grants you .04/.08/1.2/1.6/2% of your max AP per target killed, and also causes Indomitable Battle Strike to deal 2/4/6/8/10% more damage based on the targets missing health.

Grudge Style: The extra threat gain now also affects Reaping Strike.

Intimidation: Now also makes any affected targets temporarily build 5/10/15/20/25% more threat against you when you attack them with any of your powers. In addition, the base powers now always generate 100% extra threat.

Instigator’s Vengeance: This feat was relying on too many outside variables to be useful, so has been simplified and made more self-reliant. It now increases damage by 12%, but is disabled for 3 seconds whenever direct damage is received. Damage over time (DoT) effects do not count as direct damage.

Feat: Deep Gash: This feat now benefits from Strength and other damage bonuses.

Barkshield: The description for this enchantment has been updated to accurately reflect its behavior. The player loses a stack of Barkshield whenever somebody attempts to damage him/her, regardless of whether or not he/she takes HP damage. This is just a tooltip change.

Eldritch Runestone: The tooltip of this runestone now refers to ratings instead of stats. Maximum hit points are excluded from its bonus.

Thunderhead: Thunderhead now properly shows its icon when it stuns an enemy.

Soulforged Armor: These enchantments have been reworked. When you die you are resurrected, healing you for 20/22.5/25/27.5% of average player health and healed for an additional 10/12.5/15/17.5% of average player health over 3 seconds. This effect may only occur every 90 seconds.

Focal Magi: This set now properly stacks once per wizard who is wearing the set, rather than once per affected target. The tooltip now correctly describes the behavior.

Grand Templar: This set now lists how long the buff lasts in its description.

Heroic Duelist's: Fixed bug causing the Heal over time to end when Unstoppable does, but heal value is now based on your Determination level when cast. Reduced Hot to last 8 seconds instead of 10. (Healing improved overall compared to current).

High Prophet: This set now has the correct display name on its buff icon.

Sacred Hand: This set now has the correct display name on its buff icon.

Sinister Shade: The tooltip for this armor set now reads much more clearly. This is only a tooltip change.

Character Creation: Text no longer overflows some Appearance Customization buttons in certain locales.

Right clicking on a friend notification now has the option to message them.

With the new Artifact slots, default keybinds for new characters have been changed. Artifact Slot is now bound to 3, potions are now bound to 4-6, and mounts have been bound to 7. Existing keybinds remain unchanged, so most players will not be affected by this change unless they create a new character.

Players no longer have a chance of becoming added to an instance that they cannot "de-queue from" for several minutes.

The support button will now open in the Arc Overlay when possible for users who are using Arc.

In the Change Appearance Window, all dyes held in bags will now display no matter what bag or how many different dyes you have.

Social Window Friends List now includes the class icons and levels of friends.

Tower Rush and Defender names now correctly display when you complete the action rather than being reversed.

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